Terrible film. Having read a great deal of information about von Richthofen I was excited to see a 'biographical' pic was in the making- having seen it I'd have preferred if it hadn't been made at all.
While I don't pretend to be an expert on film making techniques, I reckon I could have put together a more coherent story. Early on it jumps all over the place with little explanation of what is happening, and significant moments in the 'real' story of the Red Baron are given a 30 second scene. As with other reviews, I think there was scope for much more aerial combat to be included- given this is what the story of Red Baron is actually about!! But more than that, historically the film is just awful. About the only things they got right was that his name was Manfred and his plane was painted red; pretty much everything else, particularly in terms of what is known of his personality, is so far off the mark it's not a joke. The love story is a load of old tripe based on a single photograph and historical speculation, the depictions of most of the other characters (in particular his Brother) are WAY off, and many things (such as the frequent contact between Brown and Richthofen) are just made up and completely unrealistic.
I don't know what the intent of the film makers was, but the result was a wildly inaccurate film that (if anything) provides a misleading 'biography' of a significant figure in history. The real story of the Red Baron would have provided a far more interesting film, while this load of old plonk is almost disrespectful to the man.
Rent something else instead.
While I don't pretend to be an expert on film making techniques, I reckon I could have put together a more coherent story. Early on it jumps all over the place with little explanation of what is happening, and significant moments in the 'real' story of the Red Baron are given a 30 second scene. As with other reviews, I think there was scope for much more aerial combat to be included- given this is what the story of Red Baron is actually about!! But more than that, historically the film is just awful. About the only things they got right was that his name was Manfred and his plane was painted red; pretty much everything else, particularly in terms of what is known of his personality, is so far off the mark it's not a joke. The love story is a load of old tripe based on a single photograph and historical speculation, the depictions of most of the other characters (in particular his Brother) are WAY off, and many things (such as the frequent contact between Brown and Richthofen) are just made up and completely unrealistic.
I don't know what the intent of the film makers was, but the result was a wildly inaccurate film that (if anything) provides a misleading 'biography' of a significant figure in history. The real story of the Red Baron would have provided a far more interesting film, while this load of old plonk is almost disrespectful to the man.
Rent something else instead.